


What of Your Legacy?

by CptDorkery



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Gen, Triumvirate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 11:47:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14831712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CptDorkery/pseuds/CptDorkery
Summary: Q returns to the Continuum after living a human lifetime and tells Q all about it.





	What of Your Legacy?

“Welcome back, Q. Did you enjoy the 23rd and 24th centuries?”

“More than I thought possible. There is something about the sentients in that part of time/space/awareness that intrigue me.”

“Especially the humans,” Q said, “and their associates.”

“Yes,” Q answered. 

Q had done almost everything in the course of its existence, but living out a lifetime as a member of a physically- and temporally-bound species never grew tiring. Other Q tended to look down on this fetish, but Q understood. He had his own fascination for humans, sometimes claiming that he caused their creation, and the two often compared notes.

“So who were you?”

“You know I don't live and tell. That's part of the game for me.”

“Well, can you at least tell me if I ran across you during your lifetime?”

“Not that I am aware of... although my shipmates and I encountered a few similar beings. One abducted us and treated us to a substandard meal, before putting us all on trial.”

“I imagine the food and drink had no flavor.”

“Yes, you could say that. In fact, I did say that.” Q subjected Q to a searching glance, but Q gave away little.

“So tell me more. How did you spend your days? How did 'earn your living?' You said you were on a ship? Was there any great romance in your life to speak of? You must tell.”

“Yes, I was on a ship. The best damn ship there ever was, or so it seemed at the time and I would make a good argument for it now. We did and saw things that no man had seen before.”

Q told of his adventures. Of the joys of being human. Of his failed marriage and distant family. Of heartbreak and of triumph, a long life well spent. But most of all his service on the Enterprise, where legends were made and stories of the ship and crew would endure for as long as humans existed.

“And what of your specific legacy?” asked Q. “I know you love to insert yourself into the flow of their development when you live as one of these mortals. Was it enough for you to just be remembered as part of this crew?”

Q smiled a slow smile. He had developed some scientific advances in his life, made a few discoveries, but what he thought about now was his truest and dearest friendships. How the bantering had became camaraderie and brotherhood and love. And how it had been his gentle, and sometimes not-so-gentle, bickering with that pointy-eared hobgoblin which had started it and been the glue that held it together. The triumvirate - this was his legacy. But Q wouldn't understand that, only knowing humans from the outside.

“Nothing you would understand, Q. I couldn't explain it to you.”

“You won't explain it?”

“No. I don't have the patience for it. Dammit, man! I was a doctor, not an lecturer.”

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this came to me after seeing the phrase "Cosmic Bones" on a Star Trek prompt generator. I wish I had saved the page address, but thank you whoever created it.


End file.
